


The Word You're Looking For

by Reyemile



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Body Horror (Offscreen), Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:40:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24280741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reyemile/pseuds/Reyemile
Summary: There lay Ladybug, untransformed, unconscious, face-down on the roof. Her ponytails and hairbands tickled his memory, but they were irrelevant next to the red-and-black earring that glimmered with promise of a life restored. Yes, he needed the Black Cat as well, but with the Ladybug in his possession and the Miraculous cure, attrition made Hawkmoth’s victory inevitable. All he needed was the earrings. And all that stood between them and him was…… a tiny red Kwami.
Comments: 35
Kudos: 367





	The Word You're Looking For

The miraculous strength of Hawkmoth’s grip would have cracked a mortal staff, but his walking cane was as magic as the rest of him and withstood the onslaught . His body was tense with paranoia. He couldn’t believe it. Had he really  _ won _ ?

There lay Ladybug, untransformed, unconscious, face-down on the roof. Her ponytails and hairbands tickled his memory, but they were irrelevant next to the red-and-black earring that glimmered with promise of a life restored. Yes, he needed the Black Cat as well, but with the Ladybug in his possession and the Miraculous cure, attrition made Hawkmoth’s victory inevitable. All he needed was the earrings. And all that stood between them and him was…

… a tiny red Kwami.

“Leave her alone, you meanie!” said Tikki, fluttering in a figure-eight pattern above her fallen holder. 

“Oh, please!” Hawkmoth said haughtily. He couldn’t take too long; that Chamack woman and her cameraman had been trailing Ladybug’s rooftop escapades before Hawkmoth sprung his trap, so her allies were certainly on the way. But after so many months of fighting, he deserved a few seconds to gloat, didn’t he? “I defeated Ladybug. Do you think  _ you  _ are a threat to me?”

The little bug stopped, touching her chin with a flipper in a thoughtful pose. “I’m guessing that no one explained to you how Miraculouses work?” she said. “You wouldn’t say that if they had. You’d know that the Miraculous are meant to  _ restrain  _ Kwamis. When we unleash our full powers, we’re stronger than our wielders can ever be.”

Hawkmoth snorted. “And if you were the Black Cat, I might be afraid. But yours is the power of healing. What are you going to threaten me with?” He swatted at the pest. She dodged it, barely, and retreated. Hawkmoth took a menacing step forward. “You’ll hurt me with unchained healing? You’ll threaten me with unrestrained growth? Is that what I’m supposed to be afraid of? Unlimited life?”

“The word you’re looking for,” said the Kwami, “is cancer.”

Hawkmoth took a less-menacing step back. “...What?”

“Unchained healing. Unrestrained growth. Unlimited life. What you’ve described is metastasis, malignancy. You know. Cancer.” Tikki floated upwards, until she was looking down at the cowering villain and he was craning his neck to meet her beady eyes. “If you harm a hair on her head, I’ll give you  _ all  _ the cancers. It’ll be easy. The only hard part will be making sure it’s limited to you.”

Hawkmoth blinked at the incongruity. The little god was adorable, and was ostensibly on the side of light. No, it was a bluff. It had to be. “You couldn’t, and even if you could, you wouldn’t. You’re a hero.”

“I’m five  _ billion  _ years old, Mister Hawkmoth,” she said. Her voice didn’t change, all tinkling bells and sugar, and somehow that incongruity made her even more intimidating. “You have no idea what I would do. What I have done. I’ve inflicted this before, and I’m sure I will again. Do you want to know what the worst part is?”

“You… you won’t cow me--” Hawkmoth began to say, using all his willpower to resist wiping the sweat creeping from the edges of his mask.. 

She continued on regardless. “The worst part is, it can’t kill you. Normally, cancer ends when your body gives out, when your blood is starved and your veins are choked and your own body has eaten itself alive. But you’ll be charged with life-giving magic that will preserve you. So you’ll live with the constant agony of flesh consuming flesh, unable to find release, until the magic fades. Or I suppose, theoretically, until Plagg shows mercy on you? But even if my Lucky Charm will last centuries, his grudges last  _ millenia,  _ so I wouldn’t hold your breath for that.”

She shrugged. “In fact, don’t bother holding your breath at all. My healing magic won’t let you kill yourself, no matter how hard you try.” The Kwami floated towards Hawkmoth, one paw extended. Hawkmoth backed up--no, he had been backing up the whole time, and his foot nearly slipped at the edge of the roof. Close, too close, Tikki added, “Not that anyone ever listens. It usually takes *years* before they stop attempting suicide. Anything to make it stop.”

_ This… is a bluff,  _ Hawkmoth told himself. The Kwami weren’t that powerful. The Kwami weren’t that ruthless. The Kwami weren’t that independent.

Nevertheless, Hawkmoth’s fear betrayed him, and his body refused to strike out at the tiny little deceiver. The little slice of his brain responsible for fight or flight, the animalistic instinct to  _ survive,  _ flooded his body with lifesaving terror.

That same terror let him duck and dodge a flying green shield that he barely saw coming. “There she is, dudes!” the bratty temporary hero shouted from several rooftops away. Flanked by Chat Noir, Queen Bee, and Rena Rouge, Carapace charged towards Hawkmoth’s location.

Bluff or real, the threat had wasted too much time. And he had been so close, closer than he’d ever been! “Curse you, Kwami! Once I have your Miraculous, I’ll get my revenge on you  _ and  _ on Ladybug!” 

With a falsely-sweet smile, the Kwami answered, “Good luck with that.”

Having regained his sensibilities, Hawk Moth fled, slashing the supports out from a nearby billboard as he exited. The collapsing signage would have missed the prone Ladybug--he couldn’t risk damaging the Miraculous--but it appeared dangerous enough to distract the heroes and let Hawkmoth escape untraced. Dodging behind buildings, through sewers, and generally out of sight, he at last made it back to his lair.

“Nooroo, Dark Wings Fall,” he said once he was secure. He stomped towards Emilie, sending butterflies aflutter in all directions. His hand moved with ancient instinct to caress her face. The glass of her coffin stopped him, and he considered but rejected the notion of unsealing her to feel her skin. He didn’t need to remind himself that he was alive. That would be weakness. A mere moment of terror would not dissuade him from his task. 

“I… must rest,” he said to himself, detached from the world. “I need to refresh myself. If I could come this close once, I can do it again. I can win. A good night’s sleep will let me put this behind me and start anew. Come, Nooroo.”

“Yes sir,” said the butterfly spirit. “I’ll stay with you all night long. Watching over you. Waiting.”

Gabriel froze mid-step. 

_ The Miraculous are meant to  _ restrain _ Kwamis. If we unleash our full powers, we’re stronger than our wielders can ever be. _

“Nooroo,” Gabriel said carefully. “You are bound by the miraculous to obey my orders. You are not to harm me or betray me in any way. You know this, yes?”

“Of course, Master. Your instructions were clear. I’m bound to follow them to the letter.”

Nevertheless, Nooroo did not watch Gabriel sleep that night. Gabriel did not sleep at all.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to sagansjagger and musigirl for feedback and proofreading! Find them and me at the [Miraculous Fanfiction Discord](https://discord.gg/PjNZgsf)


End file.
